On Wednesday night's "Hardball," Chris Matthews cheered how "hip," "today," and "youthful," the Obamas looked at last night's address to Congress before immediately transitioning into offering this backhanded blurb for the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC): "If you like Star Trek conventions, you'll love this baby!" While it is fair to say you won't be seeing Jay-Z performing at CPAC any time soon, the comparison to a Star Trek convention crowd was definitely a dig at conservatives' expense. However Matthews did go on to out himself as a former CPAC attendee: "So if you can't catch a Star Trek convention you've got CPAC coming here. It's always fun. Because I grew up as a conservative. I liked a lot of this stuff."

The following references to CPAC occurred on the February 25, edition of "Hardball":

MATTHEWS DURING SHOW INTRO: And the Conservative Political Action Conference begins its three day meeting tomorrow in Washington. And take a look at some of the panels being offered. "Al Franken and ACORN: How Liberals Are Destroying the American Election System." "Will Congress Take Your Guns?" "The True Cost of Global Warming Hysteria." If you like Star Trek conventions, you'll love this baby.

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MATTHEWS: Before we go on to something fun here, the Republicans coming to town, I was stunned last night by the way in which the First Lady wowed that audience. The way she came, the outfit. The way the President paid tribute to her, knowing that this was the best applause line of the night. It was, it was nice it was hip, it was today, it was youthful. A real change of pace. Anyway the Conservative Political Action Conference has the following panels on tap for the next weekend if you want to come to town here. "Al Franken and ACORN: How Liberals Are Destroying The American Election System." Here's another breakout session. "Bailing Out Big Business: Are We All Socialists Now?" Here's another one. "The True Cost of Global Warming Hysteria." So if you can't catch a Star Trek convention you've got CPAC coming here. It's always fun. Because I grew up as a conservative. I liked a lot of this stuff. It's kind of groupie stuff. Interesting curios you can pick up at these things, tchochkis and, it's fascinating to watch the real conservative movement. Will this become a launching pad for the next Republican nominee, the way it was for Ronald Reagan back in the seventies?